


Knock A Door Run

by orphan_account



Category: Arctic Monkeys
Genre: F/F, F/M, Set in 2001, Underage Drinking, alex is the worst, drinking tw, drugs tw, especially alex, everyones 15/16, everyones a pretentious teen, i dont know how far im going to get with this, smoking tw, there will be some sex maybe but all nice and friendly with people in the same age category, this starts before am was a thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2016-07-28
Packaged: 2018-07-26 01:48:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7555414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We watch as a girl called Barbara and a boy called Alex hit it off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. its something that matters

“I’m here.” Barbara said, out of breath. She’d run all the way from her maths tutoring to the butcher where Connie worked. She’d had to hold the pack of cigarettes she’d stuffed into her bra as well, because it’d fly out otherwise, and she couldn’t be seen with cigarettes, because someone would tell on her. 

Barbara threw an arm around Connie in a hasty greeting as she pulled the fags out of her bra. The pack was a bit squished and was starting to fall apart a bit at the bottom, but it wasn’t so bad, she could mold it into shape again. Barbara quickly pulled two fags out, giving one of them to Connie. 

“Yeah, alright. I’ve got like, on minute. One minute.” Connie said, lighting her cigarette with Harry’s lighter. Harry was both her brother and her boss. He wasn’t a nice brother (or boss, for that matter), but he wasn’t a tattle-tale either, which was all they needed. 

“Did you do it?” Barbara asked.

“…Yeah.” 

“Okay? Well?” Barbara wasn’t jealous of Connie for losing her virginity before her. She’d gotten used to Connie knowing things she didn’t and discovering things she hadn’t yet, and was  
fine with it. She looked up to her tall, blonde friend, with her shimmery lip gloss and her crop tops. Connie was cool and experienced, and Barbara wasn’t, and that was just the way it was.

“Yeah, it was… Nice. Suppose.” Connie said, taking a drag from her cigarette. You could see her lip gloss making a stain on it, and Barbara wondered what colour it was. She hadn’t seen it before. It was a more violent pink than Connie’s other lip glosses.

“It wasn’t.” Barbara knew this because she spent the majority of her days looking at Connie. She’d gotten to know her well, and besides, she wasn’t hard to read. Connie was a girl that said there was nothing wrong and then started crying if you didn’t ask again. She never made a point of hiding her emotions.

Barbara was right. Connie smiled deviously and raised her eyebrows, sighing. She raised her eyes to the sky and then looked back at Barbara.

“He tried his best.” she said, as if reaching a conclusion.

“Oh my GOD, Con!”

“Yeah, well, it was… okay… but then it was just kind of… over? Like, really quickly.” Connie giggled, leaning back against the wall behind her. 

“Did he even, like, you know…” Barbara made a circle of her index finger and thumb, and stuck her finger through it repeatedly. Her face was stuck in a grin. Talking about sex was always quite a giddy affair.

“Do not even talk to me.” Connie said, a grin on her face. She hid her face behind a perfectly manicured hand as she snorted with laughter. A bit of ash fell from the cigarette between her fingers. It landed on her suede ankle boot.

“Oh no. Oh no, Con! So you didn’t really…?” Harry sent them a glare from inside the shop, causing the girls to quieten down a little. 

“Not really. I mean, I felt it at first, kind of, prodding…” another snort of laughter, then a deep breath, “and then he just, kind of, stopped… And I thought he was just checking like, the condom, you know, but he’d already…”

“This is both the best and the worst thing I’ve ever heard.” Barbara managed to bring out, grasping her stomach. She’d put her cigarette out against the wall. It’d created an angry black stain. Barbara cursed under her breath. Harry couldn’t see, or they’d both be toast. 

“Don’t tell ANYONE, I swear to god.” Connie said, waving a finger. Her nail varnish was apple green with little dots of glitter. Barbara wanted a Mum with a nail studio too.

“Alright.” Barbara answered, wiping a tear from under her eye. Her mascara had smudged a little, but she didn’t really mind. This story was gold, absolute gold; Matt hadn’t impressed her in the slightest, not in school and not ever, and knowing he’d fucked it up in bed was better than anything else. She could cope with not having Connie’s full attention now. Nobody could take this story from her anymore, it was saved in her brain for ever.

“It was fine. He was nervous. Don’t tell anyone.” Connie said, shaking her head. Connie kept her conscience clear by ending something really mean with something nice. She often did that. It reassured Barbara. If Connie was being mean about her behind her back (which she was pretty sure had happened maybe once or twice- because that was just Connie), she knew she’d say something nice at the end of it, so people didn’t think too badly of her. 

“I won’t! Fuck.” Barbara said. It was silent for a minute.

“I need to get back. Harry’s gonna murder me.” Connie stated, standing up straight. She pulled her crop top down, so she had a bit of cleavage. It wasn’t working that much. There was one thing that no one could deny; Barbara won in the boob department.

“Alright. See you tomorrow, yeah?” Barbara buttoned up her jacket. Her Adidas one had been shrunk in the washing. Her Dad couldn’t do laundry all that well.

“Yeah. Oh hang on, wait. Are you coming to Matt and Alex’s party?” Connie asked.

“Haven’t been invited.” That was a bit of a sore point. Barbara didn’t like Matt, but she’d thought he liked her, at least- besides, she was his girlfriend’s best friend. She was sure there was some kind of rule that said you couldn’t not invite your girlfriend’s best friend to your birthday. A kind of code, like there was a girl code. A friends-of-girlfriend code.

And then there was Alex. He’d told her he fancied her two years ago, and they hadn’t really talked since, but they’d known each other since they were four. That must mean something, or maybe just enough to invite her.

“Matt says he invited you.” Connie said, scowling. He definitely hadn’t. Barbara appreciated the effort, though.

“Oh. Didn’t get it, then.”

“Oh.”

“...When is it?”

“Saturday. 11th of May.” The 11th was Barbara’s Mum’s birthday. Connie knew that, but didn’t act weird about it. Barbara appreciated that. Another one of Connie’s things: she knew to be silent on things that mattered. 

“I’ll ask my Dad.”

“Do that. I mean, it’s not going to be a massive thing, but…” Connie gestured with her hands as if to say _it isn’t going to be a massive thing, but it’s something that matters._ Barbara didn’t want to know that, not when she hadn’t been invited.

“I’ll ask.”

“Okay. Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Yeah. I’ve got the dentist in the morning, though.” Barbara tapped the metal of her braces with her index finger. Connie smiled her straight teeth bare. She’d had her braces taken out years before. Barbara wanted teeth like Connie’s.

“For your braces?” 

Barbara nodded. As if it wasn’t clear already.

“Cool! See you tomorrow.” Connie said and turned around, disappearing behind the shop’s back door.


	2. mouth virginity

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so shit im sorry oh my god

“They know I’m coming, right?” Barbara whispered to Connie. Her Dad didn’t like her making phone calls with the land line, because she’d gotten her own mobile for her birthday; but credit wasn’t cheap if you didn’t have a job, and however happy Barbara had been with her little Nokia, she found herself calling from the house about as often as before.

“Yes, they do! Fuck!” Connie exclaimed on the other side of the line. Her parents paid for her credit. 

“Okay,” Barbara answered, “okay. Are you in the bus yet?”

“Still waiting for it.”

“Ah.”

It was quiet for a moment. The bus was coming, Connie said, she’d be at Barbara’s house in twenty minutes or so. Then she hung up the phone.

Barbara felt strangely nervous. She’d been to parties before, sure, but those were all her friend’s parties. Matt was kind of a friend, not one she liked a lot, but a friend nonetheless. Just not one she knew well. And most of his friends she’d never met in her life- she was completely relying on Connie to make her night. 

Barbara looked towards the present on the little desk in the corner of her room. She’d bought Matt an EP by a new American band called The Strokes. She’d let the spotty boy in the shop choose it for her. She had no idea, absolutely no idea what Matt was into, musically. 

It took ages for Connie to get to Barbara’s house. When she finally did, she didn’t give a reason. Barbara didn’t really expect her to. 

Connie’s blonde hair was wet and pulled together in a ponytail. Her eyes were red from chlorine. She’d just had her lifeguard lessons. Pulling people out of cars in the water, that sort of thing. Barbara was terrified of open water. She could swim, but didn’t want her head under the surface. It hurt if the water went up your nose. It always did. 

“Your Dad’s alright with you going, yeah?”

“Yeah, he’s alright.”

“Cool.”

“He doesn’t like me going home alone in the dark, though, so I need to find someone who can bring me.”

“We could go together. I can sleep over, that’s fine, I’ve got my stuff here anyway.”

“Oh, yeah. That would be good.”

“I’ll text my Mum.”

“Yeah.”

Barbara didn’t really like people sleeping over at her house. Waking up and then having to mind someone else was a bit of a hassle, she found. Connie was alright, though, and she always slept really late. Barbara would have plenty of time before she’d even lift a single eyelid.

“Did you get Alex anything?” Connie asked.

“No- shit, was it his birthday, too?”

“Well, I mean, somewhere in January. But it’s at his house and that, so…”

“Oh. I don’t have anything.”

“You could give him a birthday snog!” Connie helpfully suggested, wiggling her eyebrows. Barbara felt her cheeks flame. She continued brushing her hair, avoiding Connie’s gaze.

“Yeah, because that would be really great. A-ma-zing.” She said after a moment. 

“Do you fancy him?”

“…No.”

“He’s hot though, Alex.”

“He’s really not.”

“He is a little bit, though. I mean, I’ve got Matt and that, but Alex is cute.”

“If you have an imagination good enough, I suppose. So you can kind of Photoshop out the pink polo shirts in your head.”

“That’s kind of harsh.” Connie said, her voice full of judgement. Connie could make a U-turn out of nowhere. She’d be laughing the one moment and completely drilling you into the ground the next. Now, what Barbara had said was a little mean, but not that mean. Not mean enough to feel guilty.  
Barbara just shrugged.

“Shall we go in a minute?” Connie nonchalantly asked after a few moments of silence. She’d blow-dried her hair. 

Barbara looked at the clock. It was nearly half eight, so they wouldn’t be there before nine. She nodded to Connie.

“I’m nervous,” she confessed, “and I don’t fancy Alex Turner.”

Connie laughed.

“Come on. Don’t wanna miss the bus.” she just said.

Alex had a well-hidden house. It was well past nine when they finally found it. Jamie Cook’s bike was stalled against a tree next to it, which was how they spotted it. 

Barbara knew Jamie a little bit. He was a humbler boy than the rest of them, she felt. He didn’t say much (couldn’t say the same about Matt) and most of the time did polite things without saying anything. He was the only boy she knew that would hold a door open, probably. Maybe because he was older. Either way, Barbara admired him for it.

Matt opened the door. He shared rather a long snog with Connie. Barbara subverted her eyes when she accidentally caught sight of a tongue.

He pulled Barbara into a hasty embrace when they were finished. He smelled like he’d sprayed on a lot of cologne. He told her he was happy she was there, and seemed to mean it. He wasn’t so bad. A little loud and a little obnoxious, but with a good heart.

“Hey.” Alex was in the doorway. Some P Diddy song was playing in the background. 

The boy was wearing a pink polo shirt.

They shared a quick hug, much like the one with Matt. He, too, smelled like some really heavy cologne. He had a beer in his hand that was touching her shoulder, wetting it a little. Barbara pulled her denim jacket a little tighter around herself. 

“Er…your teeth look good.”

“Yeah, thanks.” 

“Er…sorry. D’you want a beer?”

“I’m good, thanks.”

“Right. Er…see you ‘round, then.”

“Uh-huh.”

The party wasn’t great. There were a few girls from school who were nice but older, and there were a few of Matt’s cousins. One of them was really fit, but he left quite soon. Then there were all the boys from school, Matt’s little club (Alex, Jamie, Andy, Jonah, Alfie, Mark). They were trying to impress the girls, mostly. The drunker they got, the louder.

Barbara took a sip of her white wine. It was quite a drinkable wine. Barbara just pretended to like wine, just so she didn’t have to drink beer. She had a feeling Connie was just pretending, too. 

Connie was on Matt’s lap, leaning back against his shoulder with her eyes closed and a sleepy smile on her face. The girls had left. It was just Matt, Alex, Jamie, Barbara and Connie now. Barbara felt a pleasant buzz in her head.

She’d been talking to the same girl for the majority of the night. She’d left around two, after which Barbara was left to her own devices. She’d had a half-arsed conversation with Jamie, but he was pissed and hardly very talkative. Connie had been all over Matt and the rest of his annoying mates.

Suddenly, Connie perked up. 

“Let’s play Truth or Dare!” she exclaimed, putting her hands together in excitement. Barbara hated Truth or Dare. Connie was always trying to ‘get her out her comfort zone’, as she called it, which usually meant forcing her to take some kind of shot or to try and seduce some neighbour or something along those lines.

“Barbara, kiss Jamie!” Connie ordered, her eyes gleaming. 

“She’s too young for me.”

“She’ll be fifteen at the end of the fucking month.”

“Maybe Al wants to do it. Don’t you, Alexander?” Jamie shouldered Alex, who shoved right back.

“You’re only calling on me ‘cause you’re too afraid to do it yourself.”

“What if I am, though, Alex? What you gonna do about it?”

“Barbara, kiss Alex!” Connie wailed through the boys’ banter, practically bouncing. 

Barbara only did it to make Connie happy, she told herself. She only sat next to Alex and smashed her mouth into his because Connie seemed so excited for it. She wanted to make Connie happy.

She hadn’t really thought about it until she already had his tongue in her mouth. Only when he raised his hand to pull her head closer did she realise she hadn’t actually done any of this before.

She was into it. It was fine. Alex was nice and kind of cute. A bit pale and scruffy, but he was fine. Alright for the job. And it had to happen someday. It wasn’t like she was going to remain a Snog Virgin for the rest of her days, and she couldn’t really think of a better candidate than Alex. Maybe Jamie, but if he wasn’t up for it, who was she to force him?

“Woo fucking hoooooo!” Connie yelled after they broke apart. It couldn’t have lasted more than fifteen seconds, but Barbara was suddenly awfully hot. There was a coiling in her belly and a flush on her cheeks.

She and Alex shared brief eye contact. Then, Barbara leaned back into the couch and hugged her knees to her chest, smiling triumphantly.

“You just took her mouth virginity! Alex made Barbara lose her mouth virginity!” Connie was screeching, laughing like a maniac. It was much too loud for the tired and mostly sober ears in the room. Matt was turning a bright read beneath her.

“We need to go, Con. Sorry, she’s drunk.” Barbara announced to the room, standing up.

“’S alright.” Alex said as he scrambled to his feet. His cheeks were red and his eyes were massive. Barbara liked that.

“She can sleep over at mine. If that’s okay. It’s closer.” Matt said, looking at Alex.

“I can’t go home alone, though…”

“That’s fine!” Alex hurried to cut her off. He was standing next to her, his hands shoved into his pockets a little awkwardly.

“I can bring you.” he continued. After that, he smiled. It made his eyes crinkle a bit. Barbara felt a bit confused. She hadn’t even realised that she fancied Alex, but now it seemed like she did.

“Er…That’s alright. But thanks,” Barbara said, “and Matt, Connie can stay at mine.”

Matt shrugged. Alex seemed a little hurt. Connie was eating the cake on the kitchen counter.

Barbara grabbed her jacket from a stool, pulled her ponytail a little tighter together and hoisted Connie onto her feet. She greeted everyone with a smile and checked if the bus tickets were still in her pocket. Outside, she kicked Jamie’s bike out of the way and held a supportive arm around Connie as they walked to the bus stop. No boy was nice enough for Barbara if it meant she’d have to give Connie’s safety away.


End file.
